Last night the SLO City Council agreed, in a 4-1 vote (Carpenter dissenting), to establish a Local Revenue Measure Advisory Committee – tasked with recommending alternatives to the Council for the reauthorization of Measure Y, the city’s half-cent sales tax – and to spend $30,000 to hire a consultant to conduct a community sentiment survey. In a surprise move, the council requested an additional $10,000 in undesignated reserve funds to hire an independent facilitator – rather than have staff facilitate – to manage the committee meetings and public workshops. The application process opens this Friday, July 19 and closes August 16. The committee is expected to have approximately nine members that the Council will appoint in a public meeting. The advisory committee is expected to meet about seven times beginning in September with two public workshops; a final committee report will come before Council in April 2014. Several council members expressed the need for a diverse presence on the committee with differing opinions on how to maintain the City’s fiscal health. Applications will be posted at www.slocity.org on Friday July 19.